Airbnb Ramps Up Push to Get More Hosts to Choose Instant Booking
Photo Credit: A new set of tools is now available for Airbnb hosts who choose to make their listings instantly bookable on the homesharing platform. Airbnb / Airbnb
Skift Take
With these new features, it's clear Airbnb wants to reduce discrimination on its platform, sign on more vacation rental managers, and generate more bookings. But is this enough to keep hosts happy?
Airbnb wants to incentivize more of its hosts to make their listings instantly bookable.
The alternative accommodations platform is introducing a suite of new tools for hosts who opt into the feature, making it easier for them to manage their listings.
Currently, 1.7 million out of Airbnb's more than 3 million listings are instantly bookable, and the company says more than 70 percent of new listings on the site are from hosts who enabled Instant Book as soon as it became available. Airbnb also said that 60 percent of its bookings from guests are now being handled via Instant Book.
The new tools include the following features for hosts who sign up for Instant Book:
Hosts with multiple listings have access to an improved calendar tool designed to prevent double bookings and set minimum night stays for specific dates.
Hosts can hold certain days from being instantly bookable by other guests if they're already in conversations with guests who are inquiring about those date
